Land bill: Oppn wants more sops for farmers

The government made 28 major amendments in the long-pending land bill and even included proposals from the Opposition parties but it failed to appease the Opposition as all of them demanded more sops for the farmers.

In the debate on the land bill in Lok Sabha on Monday, Rural development minister Jairam Ramesh pointed out several instances how the concern of the opposition has been addressed.

BJP president Rajnath Singh demanded that farmers should get a better compensation package when the government acquires land invoking “emergency clause”. Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav suggested that only barren lands should be allowed for industrial use and demanded that instead of fixing the compensation on the basis of market rate, farmers should get whatever they demand. He also felt that the proposed legislation would "ruin" and "devastate" farmers.

JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav, however, struck a different note and pointed out the need to control increase in population as more heads will lead to higher demand for land.

Even as the BSP is set to support the land bill, its member SS Nagaur who represents Noida, slammed the UPA for acting on land issues only because of the elections.

To a question of Trinamool’s Saugata Roy, Ramesh categorically said, “if the West Bengal government wants 100% consent of farmers in acquisition, it can do so.”